The present invention relates to a sensor sharing control method and, more particularly, to a sensor control apparatus, method, and computer program for a plurality of sensor providers and a plurality of sensor users.
Recently, security cameras, motion sensors, and the like have been installed everywhere in urban areas. Mobile terminals can also be used as sensors. Vehicle-mounted video cameras have begun to be started as well. It is desired to have a method and apparatus that can flexibly share, control, and use many such sensors.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-328310, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-052601, and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-217952 disclose specialized real-time information gathering systems in which a sensor provider registers in a management system an authorization policy and sensor that the provider owns, a user registers in the system the conditions of use and the sensor function(s) to which the user wishes to be connected, and the management system compares the states of the endpoints, the use request, and the authorization policy. The systems, however, have not taken into consideration the policy on the sensor user side. Further, no apparatus has been provided that dynamically performs the sensor sharing control when a sensor or a sensor user is moving.